


Dirt

by Purseplayer



Series: Klaine Advent 2013 [4]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 09:30:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1092327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purseplayer/pseuds/Purseplayer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine and Kurt are soulmates, but that wasn't enough for Blaine - the most popular boy in school - to acknowledge Kurt's existence.  Not until he hears the dirt being spread about Kurt around school and has to know if it's true.  Fill for Klaine Advent Prompt 4: Dirt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dirt

Blaine didn’t know how legitimate the rumors were, or who had started them.  He didn’t realize that his fellow students even cared enough to spread dirt about Kurt—a boy they daily shunned and overlooked.  He only knew that it made his throat go dry, made his heart clench painfully in his chest, every time the latest stream of gossip reached his ears.

He had to know if it was true.

So he lingered Friday after school in the classroom they said he used, but the first person to enter the room was not Kurt.  Blaine’s stomach churned sickly as he gave Dave Karofsky his fiercest glare.  Any other day they were chums—same social circle, similar social standing—but not _this_ day.  Not now. 

Dave threw his hands up in the air in mock-surrender.  “I’m sorry,” he said.  “Didn’t realize Hummel had double-booked.”

Blaine took a step closer to the trash can as his body threatened anew to up-chuck.  But Dave was already out the door, and Blaine had never been so grateful to be the most popular boy at school.

There were murmurs, the suggestion of commotion in the hallway, and Blaine was about to go running out there when Kurt appeared, a scowl on his face and his knuckles white where he clutched too-tight at the shoulder strap of his bag.  “Oh,” he said, cool blue eyes fixed on Blaine’s.  “It’s you.”

Blaine nodded in acknowledgement.  “You’re here.  They said you’d be.  I had to know if it was true.”

For a second Kurt’s face fell, his brow furrowing in confusion and maybe… shock?  But it was gone in a flash, the bitch-queen persona Blaine _knew_ was only Kurt’s barest surface firmly back in place.  “I didn’t realize it had gotten out,” he said smoothly, finally dropping his bag on a desk.  “But no matter, I suppose it will be good for business.  Is that why you’re here, then?  Come for a taste?”

Blaine’s mouth fell open in astonishment, but he quickly closed it.  “Don’t.” he said harshly.  “Don’t even pretend—“

“Pretend!” Kurt broke in, looking abruptly furious.  “The pretense has been entirely yours, Anderson!  From day one.  You… you couldn’t even bear to _acknowledge_ me and I…” he broke off, burying his face in his hands and turning away.

Blaine fought the urge to go to him, but he knew his touch would likely be rebuked.  “I’m sorry,” he said, forcing the words out when they wanted to stick in his throat.  Kurt deserved far more than words.

Kurt deserved everything.

Kurt sniffled, still facing the wall.  “Don’t act like I need you, Anderson!  Don’t act like you owe me anything.”  It was clear he was trying, but his dismissal fell flat, lacking his usual bite.

Blaine couldn’t decide what to say, so for the first time he let words fall from his mouth unbidden.  “I remember the first day I saw you,” he began in a hush.  “First day of high school.  We were so young then and you… you were adorable.  You had on these tight white jeans and a blue shirt that matched your eyes and this pale green scarf that looked soft enough to float away.  I know that everyone jokes about fucking the minute you meet your soulmate, but we were just kids and I remember… I remember all I wanted was to hold your hand, kiss your cheek.”

“But you didn’t,” Kurt said sharply.  “You didn’t in _three_ years.”

The guilt, the shame was overwhelming.  “I’m sorry,” he repeated, knowing it would never be enough.

Kurt sniffled again and wiped at his face and then—finally—he spun around.  His cheeks were flushed and his eyes rimmed with red, but there was no softness, no give in his expression.  “I’m not.  You know, when I was a kid I used to entertain all kinds of silly fantasies.  All that find-your-soulmate, fairytale, happily-ever-after bullshit.  But you disabused me of that notion, Blaine.  Life sucks and then you die.  I should thank you.”

“Kurt—“Blaine said, willing something else appropriate to come to him.

“Oh, so you _do_ know my name.”

“Fuck what _happened_ to you!?” The words were out before Blaine could stop them.

Kurt laughed dryly.  “You really want to know?  Do you actually care?  Fine, then.”  He paused, moving in closer, a mere foot away.  It was the closest they’d ever been, and Blaine’s body shook with the need to reach out and touch him.  “My parents were happy.  Soulmates, naturally.  They loved me and I had a wonderful life.  And then when I was eight, my mother died.  Broke my father apart.  And then when I was only fourteen, I met my soulmate, and I _thought_ , for a few fleeting moments, that I could maybe, finally be happy again.  That it got better.  And then he rejected me, wouldn’t even _speak_ to me, because apparently I was beneath him.”

“ _Kurt_ ” Blaine did reach out for him then, but Kurt flinched away before he could make contact.

“I’m not finished yet,” Kurt said, his face alight with fury, tears leaking down his cheeks.  “When I was sixteen, my father had a heart attack.  He never woke up.  I made it almost a year before the money ran out and… well, I had to pay the bills somehow, didn’t I?  I was alone, and so few people will hire a teenager who looks like this—“ he gestured angrily down his body “—so I began to sell the only thing I have to offer.”

“God, Kurt, I didn’t know,” Blaine pleaded, his whole body consumed with his soulmate’s anguish, with the voice in his head that kept chanting _this is your fault_.  A few dozen soccer trophies, the empty admiration of false friends, even his father’s pride and approval: all petty, transient.  If only he had known the cost…

“If people spread dirt about me, Blaine,” Kurt said, his voice a hair softer now but just as harsh.  “It’s because that’s what I am.”

“No,” Blaine said passionately, reaching out to grab his hand and hold it tight, even as Kurt struggled to get away.  Blaine pulled their hands into his body, pressing them against his heart.  “Of course not.  This is my fault, Kurt.  My sin.  But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.  Let me help you.  Let me make it better.”

Kurt sighed, giving up the fight to detach his limb and looking down at the ground.  “What do you want, Blaine?  A handjob?  A blowjob?  I don’t do fucks, but I can get you a price list if you—“

“I want _you_ , Kurt.  Please.  Tell me I’m not too late.”

Kurt’s eyes flickered up to meet his.  He was silent for a long moment, and Blaine could tell he was being measured and assessed.  “You don’t deserve me,” Kurt said at last.

“I know,” Blaine squeezed his hand.  “But maybe I could, if you gave me the chance?”

“I don’t know.  I don’t know where we’d go from here, or how we’d fix us…”

“One step at a time,” Blaine answered, “little by little.  Together.”

Kurt inhaled sharply.  “But… I have to do this, Blaine,” he indicated the room around him.  “I don’t have any means of—“

“You don’t,” Blaine cut him off.  “I can take care of you.  We have money and I’ll… I’ll get a job.”  He might have to give up soccer, but it would be worth it.  It would be a start to a very long penance, if Kurt ever forgave him.  If he ever forgave himself.  “Kurt I can’t stand the thought of you with… with _them_.  I know I have no right, but it makes me sick and…”

Kurt scoffed.  “You’re one to talk with your string of cheerleaders.  Don’t think I haven’t heard the gossip.”

“Not all gossip is true.”  He’d hoped that this gossip wasn’t, but… “Kurt, there hasn’t been anyone.  I tried but I just… I _couldn’t_.”

Kurt looked surprised, but then he smiled just a little—enough to remind Blaine how painfully beautiful he was.

“Come home with me?  It can be our home, together.  Well, I mean… my parents will be there too, but someday…” Blaine broke off, staring deeply into Kurt’s eyes and willing Kurt to feel his sincerity.  “This can be the start.  The start of something new, something better… the start of us?”

“I don’t want to be hidden away,” Kurt said tentatively.  “I don’t want to be the dirty-little-secret you keep hidden at home so you can keep your popularity here.”

“You won’t,” Blaine promised.  “It will be different, I swear.  I’ll be different.”  If only he’d had the courage to dare to be different from the very start. 

Kurt studied him for a while longer, and then he was leaning in and they were kissing, long and sweet and deep, sweeping away all of Blaine’s lingering doubts, at least for the moment.  Blaine let his free hand curl around Kurt’s face, let his whole body sink into it.  This was what he’d been missing.  This was the price of Kurt’s heartbreak, of his own pretention and hollow gains.

He never wanted to pay that price again.

When they parted Blaine tugged on their joined hands, eager to pull them out of this dingy classroom and race to his car.  But Kurt was frozen in place, his eyes closed.  His long, delicate lashes brushed sweetly against his cheeks.  Blaine lifted his hand to where it had just been before, his thumb sweeping Kurt’s cheekbone, tilting his head up and waiting patiently.

“Is…” Kurt visibly trembled.  “Is this the part where I wake up and none of this is real?”

It seemed like an eternity before Kurt opened his eyes to look at him, and Blaine held his gaze captive as he spoke.  “No,” he swore, heart pounding in his chest with the force of his feeling, the force of their promise.  “This is the part where I take you home and make you mine forever.”


End file.
